The Story
by Keike
Summary: InuDBZ crossover. Kagome is attacked and loses her memory. Learns how to fight and much later...how to love? But whom, i wonder? *Story currently on hold*
1. Abstract

The Story

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.

AN: As a result of this story being a remake of "The X of the Story," I'm calling it simply "The Story." Yes, it is an AU, and I'll try not to make the characters too OOC, but I can't promise anything… Anywayz, please read and enjoy (and review…please?)!

* * *

Abstract

Her name was Kagome Higurashi. Her birth was completely normal. She lived with a completely normal family in completely normal Japan…until the year between her fourth and fifth birthday.

Kagome's mother became pregnant with another child, later to become Kagome's sweet younger brother Souta, and at this point the Higurashi family decided to move out of crowded Japan and into the promising land of the United States of America.

Now, eight years later…

"'Gome, hurry it up! You'll make me late for 'nitiation!" a young boy shouted up the stairs.

"Explain to me again, Souta, why you even need initiation into the third grade!"

"'Cause we're older now and more 'sponsible…hey, hurry up!"

"Fine, fine…we'll get there on time. Hey, Mom? Don't forget to come get Souta today; eighth grade has to stay late for a meeting with the principal about the importance of Junior High."

"Okay, dear, I'll see you when you get home! Bye, guys!"

And with that, the siblings walked out of the front door, past their cat and two dogs, and onto the well-beaten path to their happy little school.

It was nearing 5:30 p.m., and Kagome was certain that her mother was throwing a fit right now, wondering when Kagome would return home. The meeting had run late, first of all, and then one of Kagome's friends had asked her if she could help him out on algebra problem, and against her better judgment, Kagome had agreed. Unfortunately, the problem took much longer than she had expected, and Kagome was going to be in serious trouble if she didn't return home quickly.

Turning a corner on the way back to her house, Kagome suddenly noticed a small pathway between two buildings that had never before caught her attention. It seemed to run parallel to the one she was currently walking on, but then it curved more to the direction of her home. Something somewhere inside Kagome warned her not to take the path, but she _was _in a hurry…so she decided to go ahead and take the possible shortcut.

After walking for several minutes, Kagome's foot quite suddenly landed in a large pile of rusty autumn leaves. Looking up, Kagome saw that there were trees growing straight and tall ahead of her. She took a few more steps, confused, and then turned to find that the path she had taken, as well as the buildings on both sides of it, were gone.

Kagome began to panic. She turned around, searching in every direction for some hint of the path that she had surely just been walking on. But there was no path; Kagome now found herself in the midst of what seemed to be a large forest.

Kagome turned around again and set off in the direction that she hoped would lead back to where she came from. But, according to the watch on her wrist, she had now been walking for close to an hour, and her family was surely having kittens.

She started running. She knew that she was completely lost, and she had no idea how to get back home.

Kagome didn't have long to run, however, before she was forced to stop; she soon found herself overlooking a large ravine leading down to swirling river currents far below. The wind from the water worked its way up the chasm and blasted steamy droplets of water at the girl standing precariously at the edge of the sharp drop-off.

Kagome's breathing became more ragged, her head and torso soaked with spray, her mind jumbled and confused. There were no rivers anywhere near her home; only one ran through the city, and it was one of those lazy rivers. At any rate, that river was located a good hour's drive away from her house.

She leaned against the nearest tree to catch her breath, her mind struggling to find an explanation for whatever was happening. She closed her eyes and forced her body to relax slightly, not paying the least bit of attention to her surroundings.

He crept up behind the girl very slowly. She seemed very confused, which had been expected, but it didn't necessarily make his job any easier.

He didn't really have a set plan; his goal was to get rid of the girl, one way or another. There was a long sword resting on his left hip, but he didn't want to bother with something so messy….After a few moments of thinking, the man made up his mind, straightened up, and began to walk casually toward the girl.

Kagome sighed, then stilled as she heard a sound off to her right. She whirled in that direction, expecting some sort of wild animal. She was more than slightly surprised to find two very human eyes gazing back in her direction. She gasped, first for his sudden appearance, and secondly at the sight of the large and dangerous-looking sword at his hip.

There was a strange feeling about the man; the lower half of his face was covered. Though he looked to be somewhere in his late twenties, Kagome could tell even through the man's clothes that he was very well built. The finely toned muscles one of his arms now flexed, and Kagome screamed as he drew his sword.

The man quickly dashed toward the girl, ignoring her scream and ramming the hilt of his sword into her stomach. Resheathing his katana, the man then attacked Kagome with his fists, pummeling and harrowing at her until she was swimming in and out of consciousness from the pain. At this point, the man reached for Kagome's throat, pinning her up against a near tree.

"I'm going to let you die, now," he whispered to her gasping form, then flung her over the edge of the cliff and into the swirling waters that howled in appreciation.

The man smirked, his job done, and walked away to find something else to do.

…I woke up to a bright light that made my head hurt, along with everything else.

A moan just barely passed through my lips, and I attempted to shift my body into a more comfortable position, but a sharp pain racked my body. I felt as though I had fallen a long distance, only to land on sharp rocks that had bruised every inch of my body, inside and out. I moaned once more, hardly noticing the mud in which I was almost buried, then fell back into unconsciousness.

The second time I awoke, it was almost dark outside, so the inside of my head didn't hurt as much, but everything else did. There seemed to be something or someone carrying me, and it hurt like hell. I began wishing, praying for a stretcher, or that this someone would just set me down somewhere so that the pain would stop. Finally, however, the person carrying me tripped or something, and I felt an especially sharp jolt run through my body, washing pain and unconsciousness over me once more.

I awoke a third time to a bright light shining into my eyes. This time though, when I moaned at the pain, it immediately snapped off. This turn of events confused me, so I tried to open my eyes fully. What I saw when they opened first shocked then delighted me. It was a human being! I was so happy, I would have jumped up and out of that bed had I not felt like I should have died already. I tried to, however, and I immediately fainted and fell back onto soft pillows.

Chichi was working in the kitchen, whistling lightly. She would start on dinner soon, but it was a little early for that, and the kitchen was a mess. 'That husband of mine; he's going to get it if he leaves the house in this state ever again.' She sighed. 'I just wish that he wouldn't eat so very much all of the time…' Chichi looked over to where the girl slept quietly in the hammock.

Gohan had said when he brought her home that setting her on a normal be would only cause her more pain, but…they had gone just a bit too far. The girl was resting in the hammock kept hanging from the high ceiling of their house, and Chichi could only hope that the girl would not wake up or fall out of the hammock. It would hurt to fall from ceiling to floor on any occasion, but this girl obviously had some broken bones, and…

'Never you mind, Chichi,' she reprimanded herself. 'What, after all, are the chances of that happeni--'

"Oh, no!" The girl had indeed woken up, and had tried to get out of the 'bed'. She fell straight down and Chichi watched in horror, as the girl would surely hit the ground! However, at the last moment, the girl stopped. In midair, she stopped, and lay there in the air for a moment before floating softly to the ground, her dark hair swaying slightly before resting beside her.

"What on earth…?"

Gohan yawned loudly as he finished up his breakfast burrito. He didn't know who had come up with the things, but they sure were tasty. Not as good as rice cakes, of course, but good just the same. He left his food on the table (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree) and walked slowly from the kitchen, and out the front door. It was still dark outside.

"Dammit," he mumbled to himself, "I can't believe Dad's making me get up and out this early."

"Well, you get more sleep if don't stay up late, yes?"

"Hmm?" Gohan turned around and looked behind him. Through the darkness, he could make out the form of a young girl sitting on a large rock by a small, clear pond. She was sitting with her back turned to him.

"Oh, what do you know, Keija? I've caught you up at past one in the morning before!"

"Hmph. You is up late yourself to see me. And one o' clock is late only for school night. I do not have school, so does not matter."

Gohan laughed. "That's true for now, I guess, but mother told me last night that she'd be sending you to school tomorrow." He snickered.

"Do not be childish, Gohan," she retaliated. "School only give me reason to get out of this hell hole."

"What language, Miss Keija!" Gohan said with mock anger. "Better not talk like that at school, or they'll kick you out. Speaking of which…where did you even manage to hear those words?"

The girl looked smug, as only thirteen-year-old girls can look, and said, "I hear you use them. I know others too. Not from you only, but Yamcha is good friend, too…need say more?"

Gohan sighed, frustrated, closing his eyes and shaking his head slowly back and forth, vowing to kill his father's friend on sight.

"Did you hear about that new foreign exchange student?"

"Yeah, I hear she can hardly speak any Japanese."

"Where do you think she's from? She doesn't have an accent, and I hear there's no record of her anywhere. People say she had to make up her own name."

"Well, I heard she's staying with Gohan Son. I wouldn't mind living with someone as cute as--"

"Shh! Here she comes!"

Keija walked quickly trying to hide from the stares and the gasps of surprise at the fact that she looked as Japanese as the rest of them.

"Gohan," she said quietly, "why is people staring? I hear voices; can't understand!"

"I know, Keija. Don't worry; I'll help you through your first day."

"Thank you much, Gohan-san."

"Right, just stick close; I don't need to lose you right now. I need to get to the high school, so I don't have a lot of time to spend over here. I'm happy to take you," he added quickly when he saw Keija's crestfallen look. "It's not really that much of an inconvenience, really, Keija-chan!"

Still, the girl began to walk away from him. "I will find big office myself, yes?" she said, and walked off down the hallway leading to the main office. Gohan stood for a moment in indecision, trying to decide what to do, and eventually left her to her own devices. 'She can take care of herself' he convinced himself.

I walked silently down the hallway, careful not to make a sound on the wooden floor. I felt completely lost. I couldn't remember anything at all.

After waking to Chichi's piercing gaze, and that was more than a month ago, there had been only one thing that I could remember. 'K'. Just the one letter; not my name, not any memories. I had no idea how I managed to end up here, and I didn't have any idea as to where I came from.

Also, I didn't fully remember any languages. I could recognize some things that Gohan and his family said, but not even in my thoughts were there any sentences or languages. Actions or fragmented thoughts symbolized absolutely everything.

But I needed to speak, so I began learning Japanese. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be; it was the only option I was given, so I took the opportunity and embraced it. I figured that Japanese was probably the language I had spoken before…whatever it was that happened to me.

None of us at Gohan's house knew what happened, so we usually didn't talk about it. I figured that Gohan and I would speak of it one day, but not quite yet. Now was not the time. Until that time finally came, we would wait.

* * *

A/N: So, how'd you like? Er…Kagome Higurashi and Keija Kan are one and the same…but Kagome lost her memory of everything before waking up in Chichi's house, so she made up a new identity and is now living with Gohan and his family…I think that's about all. Now, are you going to review? 


	2. Fingertips

The Story

Chapter 2

Hooray, Chapter 2 is up and running! Please enjoy! (and review, if you like)

Disclaimer: I own nothing that doesn't belong to me.

* * *

Fingertips

Don't start with me. Just don't do it. I know, I know, he finally caught me. Get off my back about it; it couldn't be helped.

If it had been any other day, it wouldn't have happened. If it had been any other day, I would have been more careful. If it had been any other day then I wouldn't have been sitting right there and he wouldn't have been watching, and I wouldn't have been caught. However…

"Keija, what are you doing, exactly?" he asked me. I turned around and saw that he was staring at me intently.

"Nothing," I lied. "I'm not doing anything at all, Gohan-san." However, there must have been an under-lying tone in my voice that gave me away.

"Show me," he said. And, not knowing what else to do, I held up my fingers for him to see.

At first glance you wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary. However, as you looked, and if you really concentrated, you could barely just see them: little flames coming out of my fingertips.

Gohan stared for what seemed like an eternity. Right after he had walked up behind me, I had been in the process of making the flames grow more and more transparent, and now they had nearly disappeared, but they hadn't gone unnoticed by my teacher.

Lately he had been teaching me how to fight. While I thought I had simply tripped and fallen off of a cliff or a rock face, he seemed to believe otherwise. He wouldn't tell me just what, but he did say I ought to learn some sort of self-defense.

He therefore began teaching me how to fight. He was a very good teacher and I liked him. He was hard on me, though. Any inattention or lack of respect on my part was rewarded with pain, and I didn't enjoy that very much. I learned from each lesson, each of the days he taught me, but I eventually grew to hate him. Having a student to teach gave him a newly found arrogance that I found to be rather disturbing.

Goku, Gohan's father, didn't train me at all, even though he had much more experience than his son. But I did enjoy Gohan teaching me at first. He was my equal, not my superior. We lived under the same roof, ate at the same table, and went to bed at the same time. Occasionally, he would even walk me to my school.

His ego grew, though, and he eventually wanted me to do chores for him.

But I refused.

Normally we got along peacefully; I didn't understand why he wouldn't be nice. Yet, one small thing and he thought that gave him leverage to be on top?

Hell no; it just got me totally pissed.

I completely refused to do his chores, and he learned the hard way that I wasn't his slave (I short-sheeted his bed, dumped ice water on him in the middle of the night, etc, etc…). Unfortunately, that was the day he noticed the flames I could command to appear at the end of my fingertips.

My first complete thought was 'oh, shit.'

"So you say no note was left, nothing written down anywhere to suggest that she might have run away?" the investigator asked of Mrs. Higurashi.

"No, there was nothing at all," she sobbed loudly. "She stayed late at the school for a meeting and never made it back home…"

"Now, now, ma'am, please don't cry. It will be okay; we'll find your daughter. But we need to know the timing…it would really help."

"I'm sorry officer," Mrs. Higurashi gushed out, "but I really don't know the time…I can tell you what time the meeting was supposed to end, but that's about all…"

"Thank you, ma'am, you've been very helpful," the investigator wrapped up after he'd gotten as much information from the distressed woman as possible. "It's getting late; how about I send somebody over some time tomorrow?"

"Yes, that would be nice…thank you very much, and good night."

"Good night, ma'am."

The investigator left, and Mrs. Higurashi was left to pacing back and forth, trying to decide what to tell her husband. He wouldn't be home for another three months because he was presently on a long business stay in Japan. He was supposed to call her the next morning. Mrs. Higurashi didn't want to worry her husband, but she knew she had to tell him at some point that their daughter was missing, so she resigned herself to the task.

Souta Higurashi lay down in his bed, mulling things over. Kagome had said something strange to him that day. She had said, almost as if she were in a trance, "I shall see you again, brother." Then she just turned around and left to walk toward her school, like nothing happened. It just wasn't like Kagome to speak in such a formal fashion. Normally she'd have said "See ya later, bro," or "Meetcha after school, Souta." It wasn't normal at all.

The boy sighed heavily. 'I wonder if she's really all right?' he asked himself. 'It seems like she should be…but darnit! I should've asked her what was wrong right then. But I didn't really think about it until after she disappeared. Hmph…I just don't understand her! But I hope she shows back up soon…When Dad finds out, he's sure to flip…oh man, what's he gonna say when we tell him we lost her? C'mon sis, hurry home…'

"I hate school."

"No you don't, Keija."

"Yes, I do. I can prove it. Give me a torch."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"So I can burn the school down and prove to you just how very much I loathe its existence."

Gohan smiled lightly. "You know you don't really hate school," he admonished. "You're just disappointed is all. By the way, I hadn't noticed, but your Japanese has really improved."

"Of course it has," I replied icily. "It's the only language I know, Gohan." I had recently dropped our previous formalities. My voice, however, betrayed some of my still less-than-warm feelings.

"Gohan," I continued, almost haltingly, "where exactly do you suppose I came from? Originally, I mean. I couldn't have just appeared out of thin air, you know."

"Well, I don't really know, Keija," he admitted. "As I've told you before, I was out on a walk, trying to find Iccharus, when suddenly I came upon you lying unconscious in the mud. You looked near death. When I began climbing the hill hiding you from sight, I felt a malevolent presence nearby. I thought about turning back, and I nearly did so, but I really needed to speak to Iccharus, so I kept going, then found you.

"It took you over a week to finally wake up, and, as you know, it was more than a month before you were well enough to even get up and walk around. But now you get to go to school and make new friends. It's really not that bad, is it, Keija-chan?"

I sighed. I asked myself what I would really do if someone were to hand me a lighted torch right at that moment…the thought caused me to laugh silently, a smile lighting my face. Gohan hadn't said anything more about my flaming fingertips. I suppose he realized that it wasn't his business at all.

"Heeey! Keija-chan!"

I turned around to see a girl my age come barreling toward me. "Kayko-chan!" I yelled back with glee.

"Hurry on over here, or you'll be late!"

Kayko obliged and continued over in our direction so quickly that she nearly ran me over when she reached us. She was a really nice girl, and was also very popular, especially with the boys. She was around my height, not very tall, with short brown hair and a huge grin on her face 24/7.

"You've never been late to class before, though, have you, Kayko?" I laughed. "You don't want to break your record, do you?" Kayko and I met on my first day back in school. That was back when I could hardly put together a Japanese sentence, let alone keep a good conversation going. She helped me out with my homework a lot as well, as I couldn't understand the kanji at all.

Kayko laughed brightly. "You're not one to talk, smartie; you're the one who's late to class most often than not!"

Gohan, who was still walking with us at this point, looked at me oddly while Kayko absentmindedly divulged the secrets I had been keeping from him.

"Ah, yes, well…" I struggled to create an excuse for this revelation, but before I had come up with a semi-believable one, Gohan said, "Keija-chan, if you would excuse me, I need to get to class…come and see me after school…" and he walked off toward the high school. I cringed.

"Hurry, Kei-Kei, or we'll be late!"

"I'm coming, Kayko…you go on ahead; I've got something I need to do…"

Kayko, not wanting to be tardy, ran ahead to class, while I sprinted off in the opposite direction, toward the power that I sensed, the power that did not belong where it was.

The telephone wouldn't stop ringing. It should have stopped a while back and flipped over to record the message, but it hadn't. It simply kept on ringing.

Mrs. Higurashi was at the grocery store, and Souta didn't want to bother answering the phone, because "The Ultra-Cool Adventures of Super-Guy" was counting down the top ten best episodes ever, but…the phone just wouldn't stop.

"For crying out loud…" Souta trudged down the hallway and picked up the still ringing phone.

"Hello?" he tried. "Helloooo? Tch, stupid telemarketers…never answering…" He was about to hang it up when there was suddenly a deep, scratchy voice at the other end of the line.

"You love your sister, don't you?" it asked.

"Wh-who's there? Who is this!"

"It doesn't matter…Just tell me, boy…where is your sister…?"

"H-how am I supposed to know that, you jerk!" Souta was trembling.

"I see…she did not tell you…in that case, we shall have to lure her to us…"

"Wha-what is that supposed to mean, you freak! Who is us!"

"Heh, heh, heh, come, seek and you shall find, little one…"

Souta stared at the phone in horror as the voice faded; that voice was creepy and gave him goosebumps all over. He hung up the phone none too gently, then began to pick it up again to call his mother when, without his mind's consient, his body slumped to the floor.

He reached up and felt the thin needle that had penetrated the thin skin at his neck. As he looked up and out of the open window above him, he could just make out a glove-covered hand hidden amidst tree branches, holding a modified dart gun.

Souta could see the image for a moment, before blacking out completely, lying still on the floor in silence. A black shadow descended upon him, and when it lifted, the boy was gone.

"Shit!" The outburst came from my mouth the moment I looked at my watch; it came with good reason. "I cannot believe this! I'm actually a whole 30 minutes late for class today! Gohan's gonna kill me…"

I was literally sprinting toward the school now. The building was right in front of me, just yards away. However, my feet stopped abruptly when my eyes spotted the assistant principal glaring at me from the doorway.

"Oh, crud," I muttered under my breath. "As if Gohan wasn't enough…" I approached the seething teacher with caution. Yet, instead of revealing my true thoughts, I quickly plastered a wide smile on my face.

"Good morning, sir," I greeted him. He regarded me with distaste.

"It's closer to noon," he replied grumpily.

I couldn't help but grin even wider. "Yes, but it is still morning, sir; where's your happy face?" He continued to glare. "Sir, I'm truly sorry that I'm so late, but you see, my alarm clock broke sometime last night, and since I live way up in the mountains, there was nothing I could do. I came here as quickly as I possibly could. I'm so sorry."

Here I put on one of my sad puppy-dog faces, and the assistant principal couldn't help but stop scowling.

"Well, I suppose it can't be helped. Move along to class now, Miss Kan."

(A/N: Keija's adopted 'Kan' as her last name.)

I 'moved along' and slipped into my seat next to Kayko. She stared at me with a scowl rivaling that of the assistant principal's, but I ignored her and focused on the remainder of the class.

After class had ended, Kayko bugged me to now end in order to find out why I was so late to school. I know she wouldn't believe me, so I never did tell her. During lunch, however, the school secretary called me into the office to say that I had a phone call. Ha! Saved by the phone!

I followed her into the office and picked up the phone. "Moshi, moshi," I said.

I waited for a moment, then heard, "Hello, Miss Kan. May I speak with you for a moment, please?"

"Er…yeah, who is this?"

"That is unimportant, Miss Kan…may I call you Miss Higurashi?"

"I beg your pardon…but why?" I asked, bemused.

There was certainly a sick form of humor in the voice's following words.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter what I call you, but…Miss Kan, are you aware of the fact that you have a younger brother? No? Well, no matter…you do have a brother, whether you remember him or not, and at this moment, he happens to be here with me…would it not be terrible if something were to happen to him…?"

"Now wait just a minute!" and I noticed suddenly all of the stares directed my way, and quickly toned down me voice. "I'm not aware of having a brother, and I cannot simply take your word for it…give me proof that you're not pulling my chain."

"Very well, Miss Kan," the voice replied patiently. "Listen up."

"K-Kagome?" I heard a young voice tentatively speak across the phone.

"Kagome, is that you? Please, they say it's you! You need to get home! Mom is worried sick, and she hadn't told Dad yet that you were gone, but now I don't even know where I am, so she's probably told him about both of us by now. He won't be back from Japan for a few weeks still, I think, but…Kagome? Are you there?"

I was frozen in time. I could hear the boy speaking, and it was as though I recognized the voice, but I…

Souta.

The name sprang up into my mind, and I suddenly knew the speaker's name was Souta. Then my mind processed some of what he'd just said.

His father was in Japan…I was in Japan…if I could contact the boy's father, maybe I'd get some answers! I needed to ask what the father's name was, fast. Maybe I could help them out.

However, it suddenly crossed my mind that "Souta" didn't appear to be speaking Japanese. I was able to understand what he wanted me to hear, but I could not understand the actual words coming out of his mouth. Or could I?

But I knew that I didn't have time to mull it over. I had to act immediately.

"Souta?" I tried. "Is that your name? Are you still there?"

"I…Kagome…I hear you, but…"

"Souta, tell me, quickly…what is your father's name? His whole name, his phone number, address. Quickly, tell me!"

"…Okay, it's Hideyoshi Higurashi…his number is 555-1010...the address is at Pink Mt. Lane, in Texas, USA. Did you get that, Kagome?"

"I've got it! Thanks, Souta!"

"Sis, call mom! Tell her--"

"Well, wasn't that sweet," the voice interrupted. "It was just a simply beautiful reunion. However, if you don't mind, we have a few things to attend to…"

click

"Hey, wait! Don't hang up on me, you coward!"

But it was too late. He had already hung up on his end. I resolved to log onto Gohan's comuter as soon as I returned home. I would find out just who this 'Hideyoshi Higurashi' was, and just what he had to do with me.

* * *

Did you read it? Did you like it? Tell me! (please review, i'm begging you...)


	3. Friends of Thee

The Story

Chapter 3

A/N: I don't really know what I'm gonna do with this story; I know that it lacks a lot, but I'm really just trying to type this thing up as fast as possible. I'm not trying to live up to anyone's standards, but I'd like to know at least one person like the damn thing, so send me reviews, please!

Disclaimer: It's not mine, it's not mine, that's not mine, oh, that's not mine...but the plot's mine...

Friends of Thee

* * *

I spent over three days surfing the net, searching for Hideyoshi Higurashi. I finally found his name on a list of employees that worked for the Employees of Texas Company (ETC). However, he was currently stationed on the island of Kyushu, which wasn't exactly close to where I was staying.

There was only one way to assuredly get to Kyushu before Higurashi-san left from there. Gohan and I would have to fly.

It's not quite what you are thinking, no. When I say flight, I mean…actual _flight_. At any rate, it's not like we'd be in any danger; I had learned the basics of how to fly a while back. Well, I still wasn't very good at it, of course, but I could at least stay in the air for a while.

Our plan was well thought-out. Gohan and I both made excuses to Chichi; I told her that I would be spending the night with Kayko, and he said that he would be doing some special super hero gig. Gohan's excuse was really lame, but somehow Chichi bought it.

It was now about two o' clock in the morning. The air flowing around me felt warm and soft, as though it were embracing me. It felt really nice, but as I couldn't see anything in the near-darkness, I was a bit uneasy.

I glanced over at Gohan. His outline soaring nearby was only just visible.

"Hey Gohan," I said, "do you think we could take a breather?"

We had left the house around seven that evening, stopped once at eleven, and hadn't stopped since.

"Well, I dunno, Kei. We need to keep going if we're gonna get to Kyushu by daybreak." He glanced over my way. "If it had been only me, I could have been there by now, but you're not used to flying yet, so…"

Anxiety and distress were probably painted bright on my face, but I wasn't sure, and Gohan wouldn't be able to see my face in the darkness anyway.

I sighed deeply, knowing that I was slowing him down. Guess there was no alternative. I tried to stay in the air, really I did. But hey, it must be karma, right?

Yeah, I guess I'll put it to karma.

I had no control as I fell. The ground rushed up so fast…have you ever stood in front of a bullet train? No, I haven't either, but I imagine it's much the same.

I was out cold long before I hit the ground. Luck? Karma, maybe? I don't know. Whatever it was, I thank God for it.

Meanwhile, however, as he scanned the ground miles from where I had fallen, I don't think Gohan was feeling quite as lucky.

'What is it?'

'I dunno; it looks human to me.'

'That…thing there is not human.'

'But it certainly does look human, Fallow.'

'I know that, Starly! But I need to know what it is, not what it looks like. That rock over there looks like a rabbit, but it's still a rock…should we just kill it?'

'No, it doesn't look too dangerous to me, especially after falling all that way…Fallow, should I go get Hunter? Or Railee?'

'No, I'll look after this thing…but go and get Maren.'

'What! Maren? Why him?'

'Well, we'll need his help if we're gonna keep this thing alive long enough to take it to Montra's place.'

'Whoa, wait! We're going to THE Montra's place!'

'Yes, Starly…now go and get Maren. Now!'

How to describe this…well, you know how I felt after Gohan found me at first? This was worse. This was way, way worse.

It was dark, but even in that dank darkness it hurt to open my eyes.

That was my first sign.

My second sign was that I couldn't move. That was bad, as I had no idea where I was. After thinking about it (with my eyes still shut, of course) for a good while, I remembered what had happened.

Gohan and I had nearly reached the edge of Kyushu. If fact, we were right above the coast.

In the pregnant darkness I had seen the outlines of large trees bordering a giant forest. Now I could feel the air warming around me, although light had yet to seep into the chamber I was laying in.

I could tell it was a chamber after just a while. Even though I could only open my eyes in two-second intervals, it took only a few minutes for me to adjust to my surroundings.

What had seemed dark, wasn't. There was a lamp in the corner. Granted, it was not a very bright lamp, and I gathered that it was probably more like a candle. I could tell because my eyes didn't explode when I looked briefly in that direction.

Finally, when I could open my eyes for 20 seconds or more at a time, I tried to sit up. Now you would think that I had learned my lesson the last time this happened but…it seems as though I always have to learn the hard way. Sometimes more than once.

Had to fight the urge not to scream. It was hard.

Head reeling, back aching, stomach bursting open, body covered in blood…my innards were actually starting to roll across the floor…pretty little pinkish things, I might add. Or at least, they might have been pretty if not for the fact that they were tumbling out of my stomach at an astonishing rate.

I started laughing right about then, which caused even more blood to squirt out of a giant wound on my right arm. Heads weren't rolling yet, but oops, there went my liver!

'Oh, for Kami's sake, don't move, you idiot!'

Took me a minute…before I realized that I hadn't just 'heard' words. There was…no sound. It was…all in my head. I slowly looked around the chamber, oblivious to the organs slipping squishily out of my gut.

'Dear Kami, do you feel no pain! Lay back down at once!'

Something in my gut (or rather, the lack thereof) told me to turn around. What I saw was some old, short lady with pointed ears and wrinkly, nearly brown skin crouched behind me, staring at me, bemused. The look on her face was so odd that the only things keeping me from full-blown hilarity were my welling tears.

'Dear child,' said the lady (or I at least assume that she was a lady), 'Maren has turned against our clan and sided with his fanatical friend. He sensed a deep power in thee, as do I, but he shall want to use thy power for evil. Please tell me that thine is of good and not of evil origin.'

Uh…right. What was I gonna say? 'I'm not evil (well, not really) and I don't wanna run off with some freak who wants to take over the world or something…'

I struggled to answer the creature. "Look…I-I'm not…evil, ma'am…I-I just fell and I c…couldn't stop…" My head spun from the sudden use of energy, and I nearly collapsed.

The old lady smiled a lazy, toothless grin. 'Well, I had to make sure. Here now, lie still.'

Confused, I did as I was told. Suddenly there were many sharp pains, quickly followed by a cool, soothing sensation that swept through my whole body. Soon I was out of it again, but I was thankfully no longer like a jigsaw puzzle on the cold chamber floor.

It was high noon.

The birds were being obnoxiously loud and the sun beat down on anyone trying to avoid its scorching rays. The wind blew softly as it whistled through the tall trees, causing them to sway back and forth with a loud creaking sound that you could just hear above the loud din of the birds. A particularly large bird swooped down for the single meadow. It was a goshawk, and it had spotted a seemingly juicy rabbit just ready to be stolen away.

The goshawk's long tail fluttered in the wind as it came in for the kill. It was nearly to the rabbit when a spear struck straight through the hopper fast as lightning. The goshawk screeched in bewilderment, before a large gray and brown figure with sharp teeth bit down on the rabbit's neck, which snapped easily.

I woke up just outside the woods, on the opposite side of the cost. If I were to ignore my now reddish black and gore-covered T-shirt, why, I'd say I was just fine and dandy. But I couldn't ignore the gore, and my now-blonde hair (I dyed it a few weeks after coming to live with Gohan's family, did I mention?) was matted and filthy. This seemed good enough reason to search for a stream or river, as well as Gohan and/or Mr. Higurashi.

Found the river!

A lot of god it did me…there just had to be a 30-foot cliff (which seemed oddly familiar, though I can't imagine why) and I just had to accidentally drop my shirt down there. Just my luck, isn't it? Oh and then a grackle started laughing at me.

What the bloody hell?

I didn't even know that grackles could laugh! Speaking of which, I guess it was actually just some big, black bird, but it could have been an American blackbird, if only…we were…in America…

Right, so there I was, walking along the river-cliff with no food, no friends…oh yeah, no shirt, not a clue as to where the hell I was, and an extremely sharp pain in my abdominal region.

Luckily, it did not take me an incredibly long time to locate a nearby house. I think I may have scared one of the kids by my sudden appearance, or just my appearance in general, but I did get amazing results; the kid ran inside crying, and an old woman was instantaneously outside to greet me.

She nearly screamed when she saw me, so I guess I must not have presented a very pretty picture. I slurred out some words in a jumbled sentence containing the words 'lost' and 'clothes' then waited as she went back into her house to get a shirt and write some directions for me.

As I waited, the kid peered out of the house cautiously and started walking slowly up to me. He was a cute little kid; he had kind of shaggy blonde hair and dark brown eyes that stared up at me in apparent distrust. I laughed at him lightly and he scrambled away.

After the woman had given me a shirt and some new shoes, as mine had mysteriously disappeared, she gave me directions to the nearest town. I went on my way, and she sent me off with a wave.

When I was far enough away from the house, I took off into the air to get a better view. I couldn't fly up very high because I was still so weak, but I knew that traveling would go faster in the air. Also, it would make it easier for Gohan to find me than if I was walking around on the ground.

After about an hour of flying about hopelessly, I gave up on Gohan and went to search for Mr. Higurashi myself.

It proved to be harder than I had originally thought. Much harder, actually, because it had all been a ruse. Someone had been ready for us, creating fake files on Mr. Higurashi and planting them into the computer database.

It was all a big lie; everything that boy had told me was untrue, and I was not at all happy about it. Someone would soon have a _whole_ lot of explaining to do.

Gohan tried to find the girl, but to no avail. He finally decided that if she were to go anywhere, it would be to where Mr. Higurashi was rumored to be.

Yes, it was all a lie; someone had told Gohan of this earlier, but he was hoping to be with Keija when she found out so that he could feign surprise. Now it seemed as though his plan had backfired on him somewhat. This someone who had given him information, a hacker, had also told Gohan that there really was an American Hideyoshi Higurashi currently in Japan, but that he wasn't on Kyushu.

The hacker did not reveal where Mr. Higurashi was.

I was totally furious. Now something that Gohan had said earlier made perfect sense, and I could tell that he knew of this treachery before I did. I decided that the best way to make him pay would be to make him worry. I would return to his house and tell his family that he had stayed behind to check on something.

No, I changed my mind. I would not go back to his house; I would go out on my own and fight to earn money to live on. It was a good idea, because I was pretty strong when it came down to it.

I was on my way to another experience. A trying and emotionally painful experience that would leave my mind scarred…for the rest of my life.

* * *

Now review, review, review! Yippee!


	4. Ki Elements

The Story

Chapter 4

It seems to me as though every chapter I write is a little shorter than the last…how strange.

Um…I hope you enjoy it, but I'm not promising anything, guys…R&R, 'kay? Please?

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, DBZ, Yao Ming, or anything else I may have forgotten to mention.

* * *

Ki Elements 

I made money very quickly in the fighting business. Sometimes there'd be some punk-ass kid come up and challenge my reigning title, but in ten seconds flat I could have him down on the ground, begging for his mommy.

With every victory, I grew stronger.

I soon developed a habit of pulling my hair up in the back before a fight. But I didn't use a rubber band usually; I held my hair together with a small connecting band of my ki (spirit energy, ya know?). I was defeating my opponents at such an astonishing rate that I soon was scouted for one of the large martial arts tournaments coming up. They offered plenty of money for the prize.

I readily accepted.

As some readers may know, to enter some large martial arts contests, one must have his strength tested by a machine so that a.) the sheer number of participants may be narrowed down and b.) no exceedingly weak contestants can enter and embarrass the committee.

I'm certain that some of you recall a certain someone that is able to break one of these machines by a mere tap.

Yeah, you guys all know who I'm talking about: the great and almighty Vegetable.

Veggie was actually one of my sparring partners when I was training with Gohan. He always beat me, but I hold to the belief that it was only because he was willing to go all out, while I wasn't.

Well, speak of the devil; he had figured he'd enter into the same contest (not knowing I was there as well) just to have a bit of fun. It wasn't the Tenkaichi Budokai, after all, but all of the contestants here certainly weren't just weaklings.

I hoped I wouldn't have to fight Veggie, but I knew I that I would if I wanted to win.

Throughout everyone else's fights, I tried to stay as far away from him as possible so that he wouldn't know that I was competing as well. I quickly realized my stupidity, however, when I figured out that he would probably be watching all of my matches. Even if he weren't, he no-doubt would not fail to hear my name announced in one of the matches.

Still, I tried my best to keep my presence a secret until the last possible moment.

That last possible moment, unfortunately, was not too far away. I was to participate in the seventh match, so I wouldn't have a lot of time to try and contrive a plan to conceal my identity.

I had registered as 'Kei,' so I found no reason for him to recognize simply my name. I thought about I t for a few moments, then realized that Vegeta had probably never seen me with my hair up. All the time I was training I always kept it down because I thought it was cool for my waist-length hair to swirl around me as I fought.

Vegeta would never think about it being me as long as I kept my hair up.

However, I thought about the possible things that would cause me to have to take it down. Whenever I fought an opponent that made me work hard enough to really sweat it out, I would remove the constant use of energy that was my hair-band.

Without that drain on my ki, as well as the concentration that it took away, it was much easier to defeat my quarry. If I hat to fight Vegeta, I would most certainly have to take my hair down.

I finally came up with a solution. I had completely forgotten about the talent I had recently discovered that I had. My mind and body were able to perform various abilities that were virtually impossible for a normal human to achieve. These abilities were very slight, but incredibly effective.

See, I had the talent to warp and alter things.

Let's take a plastic box, for example. I could make the box larger or smaller, I could change its shape into a sphere or a cylinder or any other shape, or I could even change the color of the box. However, I could not change the actual material. This means that it couldn' t be changed from plastic into metal or glass, nor could it become liquid or gaseous. But there was one more thing I was able to do.

I was slightly telepathic; I could thus speak with my mind as well as transport things from one place to another, to a certain degree.

Back to Vegeta…well, he didn't' see me until the seventh match. Fortunately, he didn't recognize me, either.

From early on I had had my hair died blonde so as to stand out; Vegeta had never seen me with black hair, and so obviously thought I was a naturally blonde-headed, blue-eyed beauty. Now, however, I used my power to warp my hair back into its original shade of raven-black, and I quickly grew my bangs out a little longer to cover my blue eyes.

I was to fight a very short man with spiky red hair and purple eyes. He looked up at me, loath to see me, his challenger, and I glared back down at him in strong distaste.

The ref yelled "Fight!" and we jumped at each other, dodging not-so-friendly blows. I finally landed a punch and he swung off-balance. I knocked him in the jaw, a nice uppercut, and he went flying across the fighting arena to skid across the platform and slip over the edge.

I winced in sympathy, then scanned the crowd to see if Vegeta had been watching the match. I saw that he had been, and that he was now on his way out of the stands to prepare for his match in a few minutes.

I watched his fight, but it wasn't very exciting because there wasn't much to see; it didn't last very long. Veggie didn' t quite appreciate the weakness of his opponent and glared at the referee afterward for thinking of pitting him against such an unworthy adversary.

I laughed at the sight of Vegeta stalking moodily out of the arena, then left to get ready for my second match. When I reached the prep room, I saw Vegeta himself sitting on a small bench and looking up at me expectantly.

I ignored him and continued on to a spot where I could sit comfortably while studying my up-coming opponent. Vegeta walked over to my bench and sat down next to me, clearing his throat pointedly.

When I ignored him once again, he raised his hand in annoyance and cuffed me violently on the side of the head. Staggering slightly, I leaped up and glared at him.

"Do you wanna start somethin'?" I asked roughly, attempting to disguise my voice. Vegeta snickered softly then stood up to look down at me disdainfully.

You may now laugh at the picture of someone having to look up at Vegeta. He may not be the shortest man on the planet, but he's not quite up to par with Yao Ming, if you know what I'm saying…

"So waddya want?" I asked after a few long moments of pointless staring. If you can imagine it, he now made this weird giggly sound, and his face spread into a wide grin as he lifted one arm slowly to point at my hair and begin laughing hysterically. It didn't take me long to figure out that he was chuckling because of my hair, so I asked him what was wrong with it.

"Nothing," he managed to squeeze out between bursts of laughter, "except that I can't believe you changed your hair color to the exact same shade as mine!"

I stood looking at the man blankly for a moment as he began rolling on the floor, alternating between trying to stop laughing and pointing furiously at my hair. I admitted to myself that I had been concentrating so much on returning my hair to its original color and disguising myself from Vegeta that I hadn't considered what he would think if he found out…

Scowling, I quickly returned my hair to its sunny shade of blonde, turned on my heel and headed toward the nearest ladies' room to make sure I had gotten it right. I was nearly there when I spotted a head that seemed awfully familiar.

The head, which belonged to a man of medium height, had a receding line of hair that was halfway in between black and gray. I turned to him questioningly and asked, "Excuse me, sir, but may I ask your name?" He seemed not to hear me at first, but then he turned toward me and pointed at himself, saying something I didn't catch.

"Could you repeat that, please?" I asked him, and listened with light amusement as he stumbled through his Japanese as though he hadn't used it in quite a while and apologized, asking me to repeat my own question, as he hadn't quite heard me over the rumble of the crowd.

"I asked for your name," I told him, and realizing suddenly that the man must have considered me rude, I added, "My name is Keija."

"How nice of a name," he told me. "And my name, although it could hardly be of any use to you, is Higurashi Hideyoshi."

It took me a moment to register the name, but then my body went into momentary shock. I stared at him in disbelief and repeated the name; he nodded.

Like any good Japanese student, I had been faithfully studying my English. While I was for some reason better at it than most, I still had a long way to go before I got really good at it. However, I chose this golden opportunity to try out my skills.

In English I said, "How nice to meet you, Higurashi-san. I hope you enjoy your stay in Japan? If you excuse me, what is reason in Japan? Fun? Business?"

He smiled at my slow speech, then returned in Japanese, "It is fine to speak this way; I was from Japan originally. You have not insulted me," he added quickly at my horrified expression, "and your English isn't bad, either; thank you. And it is nice here, Keija-san, as it was when I was here last. I am here currently for business in my job. This is my last day here, though, because I've just learned I have problems at home that I need to attend to."

"Problems? I'm awfully sorry," I told him. I looked at him sadly for a moment, then smiled and said, "I will be fighting soon, Higurashi-san; look for me in a near match!" and ran swiftly into the ladies' room.

Assuring myself that my hair was back to normal, I put it back up with a shot of ki and walked out into the ring to face my next opponent.

However, he did not appear. In fact, after several minutes, the referee showed me back out of the ring and told me he was a no-show; my next fight wouldn't be for a while.

I was kinda pissed about all of that and went to see if I could find my absent opponent. I had gotten one glance of him earlier before Vegeta distracted me; he was pretty tall, with strange, flowing clothes that didn't allow one to guess his build, and spiky black hair with blood-red highlights. He looked to be in his late twenties, maybe early thirties, but it was hard to tell from so far away, and he had the lower half of his face covered as well.

My guessing didn't matter much, however, because sooner than I would have liked, my next round in the competition was coming up. I wondered to myself if perhaps Mr. Higurashi thought that I had been pulled out of the tournament or something, since he hadn't seen me fight so far. I wasn't sure that he would catch what had happened.

Not that I had much time to worry, of course, as my next opponent was none other than the infamous Vegetable.

* * *

Yao Ming: very, very, very tall; plays in the NBA. 

Erm…So, was it good? Do you care that I put in a cliffhanger? Is it even considered a cliffhanger? Well, review then, and tell me, gersh dernit!


End file.
